J. Grant Swank, Jr.
God's further graces begin in servanthood. There is no short-cut, no detour. God writes the system; we obey or disobey.
Servanthood
is the realization that God is Lord. When He is in fact Lord, then the
believer acknowledges Him to be in utter control of the entire life.
Lord
is Lord. God is God. Master is Master. Yet these are the divine
titles which we tend to overlook in favor of the more comfortable
titles such as Savior, Redeemer, Friend. Nevertheless, the more
demanding titles are just as much a crucial part of deity's nature as
the ones we deem "more comfortable".
Submitting to this
divine sovereignty is to understand one's lowly yet serene estate
before the King. Practically lived out this becomes the proof of our Christian witness. It is the stuffings of our
religious integrity. All else is merely supportive material.
When
one has decided for certain that God is Chief Executive Officer, then
he bows before His awesome authority willingly--constantly. All
directives--every one: minor and major--therefore originate in the
eternal Mind. As His kingdom's slave, one then breathes to yield to
His scepter without argument at all times.
On the other
hand, the wily carnal mind demands to live out God's rule. This is the
old Eden game posited by the snake, yet still very much in vogue in
every generation of churchmen and women. Such is a fumbling, foolish
project; nevertheless, it is persisted in by scores every day.
Such
a stance seeks to recognize God, yet refuses to permit God to rule.
This is the wretched double-minded state warned of in Scripture.
Continuing in such spiritual schizophrenia is a well-kept private misery of the soul.
It is testifying to knowing God, on the one hand, yet consciously refusing to allow Him to be Monarch.
Christians
in such on-going agony are a contradiction to their own creed. God is
God, they profess boldly; yet in the work-a-day He is not. Because of
this fact, their consciences reprimand them for such audacious
rebellion.
The only remedy for this inner turmoil is for one
to genuinely surrender the mortal's claim to self-rule so that God
indeed may reign fully. When this is purposefully realized, the Holy Spirit then cleanses the soul of its carnal disease. It is a miraculous cure of the human spirit.
In
place of the carnal malady enters the promised peace of servantship.
Such relief is sighed for daily by the Spirit for His children of
grace. Yet only the few take advantage of the kind Spirit's
intercession to the throne (Romans 8).
Maintaining this
lowliness is the sanctified believer's moment-by-moment willful
choice. However, sadly at any time the believer may foolishly attempt
again to "play God"; if this occurs, the old misery returns to haunt
the soul's dark closet.
On
the other hand, if the Christian truly maintains his earnest surrender
before God, actual holiness becomes an on-going lifestyle. That which
may have begun in conflict--the wrestling of the human will against the
divine will--yields to a sweet resignation.
Experiencing
this grace is the original plan of Creator God for His own. Yet often
one journeys through pain of soul conflict to reach the Father's first
intention for His own.
When completely surrendered, knowing
the Spirit possess all, the believer inwardly senses the imparting of
marvelous grace. Outwardly, others witness it lived out in the
disciple's real-life.
Over time, this grace grows into
saintliness. To be saintly is to so build a life of servanthood under
God so that that lifestyle becomes as natural as breathing. It becomes
sensitive, instinctive, normal, the "foretaste of glory divine."
Purposefully permitting the divine control constantly opens the windows of the soul
to heaven's holy breezes. These bring with them God's further, more
delicate, graces: self-giving, sacrifice, quietness in holiness, the
culture of Christ, kindness shown, honoring the holy, communicating
with angels, loving heaven with all one's being, yearning for the
invisible powers to be set loose even more so in the practics of
everyday.
Such welcomed winds refine and brighten, enliven and refresh. They inspire and spread spiritual health.
In that, these waftings have their own unique, precious wonder.